Wednesday, November 11, 2009

461 & 463 Whittaker Avenue, The Burg



461 & 463 Whittaker Avenue, The Burg
Once upon a time 461 Whittaker Avenue was Pica's Tomato
Pies and then became Schusters Tomato Pies.
463 Whittaker Avenue was always known to me just as
"The Liquor Store" and I do not recall its name.
The Playground mentioned a few posts back can be seen
in this picture if you click it:)

UPDATE:

Steveb and Carlo point out that Tomato Pies used to be
wrapped in a newspaper for take-out and The Liquor Store
was once called "shorty's".

13 comments:

STEVEb said...

WOW.. what memories.... Pica's..I remember Dominick well, got the best tomato pie in the world from there. This was the place where we all stopped after the "social" dances at Trenton Catholic.. and we could eat and still walk home with a few cents in our pocket, I'm talking about 1953 to 1957 when I was a student at TC, we were able to order a large pie (whick made todays large pies seem like a Ritz cracker) for $1.20 and have 10 cent sodas (my favorite was the Kerns orange, loved this with tomato pie (we never called it pizza back then... LOL) During the can't eat meat on Friday days, it was a pie from Dominic that he used to wrap in newspaper for take out, no fancy boxes back then, he would wrap, fold, tuck and when he was done... you could have dropped the pie and it would never become undone... and of course back then, the pies were baked in a wood burning oven, there is nothing like a tomato pie that leaves the black bits of charcoal on your fingers and lips as you eat it, and speaking of lips, how many of you remember the first bite of a pie direct from the over, WOW they were the most pleasant blisters on the roof of your mouth.. and I KNOW you all had one at one time.. thanks for posting this pic and bringing back fond memories

Carlo said...

Hey Mack, great to have you back!
I remember Dominck's Pizza well.
Living around the corner on Emory Ave., it was my job to go pick up a tomato pie and bring it home steaming hot wrapped in newspaper. Back in the 40's it cost about 50 cents! In those days the liquor
store was "Shorty's" grocery store. I remember going there with
my mom and got a kick out of watching Shorty (always wearing an
old brown hat) quickly adding up the the purchases on the back of a big brown paper bag. No calculators back then! Thanks for the memories, Carlo

Mack said...

Hi Steveb & Carlo:)
I love these comments:)
Thanks:)

JoeB said...

Carlo:
You mention adding on the paper bag, do you remember the book?
You would buy and the local grocer would add it to the book. You would pay when you got paid. The local grocer also a had a higher charge when you went to pay, he would claim some one in the family had purchase a item that was not in your book. I guess at that time is was the finance charge.

Tom Pass said...

I have often told some of younger folks about tomato pies wrapped in newspaper and they look at me in disbelief. Simple times.

Carlo said...

Maybe we should clarify the newspaper wrapped tomato pies for the younger generations. There was a huge pile of open newspapers on the counter, but before the pie was wrapped up it was placed on a sheet of white butcher paper, so the pie did not come in actual contact with the newspaper itself when wrapped. It was pretty clever and it worked for years before the boxes came into use. As you carried it home you could feel the
heat of the pie starting to warm your fingers on a cold winter's night. Hard for the young ones to believe but that's the way it was.

SJBill said...

Trentonians were used for small pies, the Trenton Times for large pies. You want it in a box? That'll be a nickle extra.

You could lift the lid on the box a little and keep the tomato pie a little more crisp on the way home.

brando said...

a lot of the 'burg stores had a "book" for the regulars.

i am too young to know about/remember the pies wrapped in newspaper.

but, i remember by dandelions for salad at san paolo's on hudson. they wrapped the leaves in newspaper.

another thing...tomato pies are best when they are kinda burnt with some black edges and the crust has a lot of large crispy blisters.

SJBill said...

Brando, those very desired blisters were called "third degree burns"! You got them in extrememly hot coal or coke fired ovens. Pica's and Sammy's had the heat in the 50s and 60s.

Ralph Lucarella said...

Hi Mack: I have to put my two cents in the tomato pie discussion. I'm going back a little further than Pica's. Papa's on Butler St. sold the large pies for 25 cents and the only toppings were pepperoni and anchovies. He too wrapped the pies in newspapers, I believe the boxes came much latter. He and the Hudson Beer garden also featured mussels. Those were the days. Regards, Ralph

JoeB said...

Ralph:
You are right on the money when you talk about the Hudson Beer
Garden giving out mussels for free on Friday's Nite. The sauce was so hot you had to bye a beer to wash them down.

Bob Reck said...

Wood fired ovens are good, but coal fired is the best. Too bad they are not very common.

brando said...

schuster's tomato pies was located in the tan building.

bill schuster made the legendary mustard pie. i liked mine with a LOT of garlic.

fantastic!!!